Only a Boat-tailed Grackle, singing male at sunset ...

[Arthur Morris]

This image was created down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL on the evening of December 22. I used the Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 2X III, and my favorite silhouette photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 200 in Av mode. WB: K7500 at 5:31pm with just a bit of haze in front of the sun.

LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -10. Manual focus with rear focus set. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version.

All are invited to take an educated guess as to the exposure.

As always, all comments and critiques are appreciated. Learn more about this photo http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2017/...ure-questions/ and by scrolling down http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2017/...son-available/.

with love, artie

[Noel Heustis]

Artie, This is a stunningly beautiful silhouette image! Easily one of my favorites. I love the color, I love the immediate impact this image makes, but most of all I love the interplay of difficult variables coming together (The Sun was racing towards the horizon giving you little time to get this right; the bird's pose is perfectly timed; and the composition is like rule of thirds (subject in the Sun) inside of another rule of thirds (the overall composition)). Thanks for sharing.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Only a Boat-tailed Grackle shown wonderfully. I echo Noel's critique. Thank you for sharing, Artie.

[John Mack]

Great frame. Love the bird within the circle.

[gail bisson]

I have looked at this a couple of times and I like it.
I wish the red at the top of the frame was not there. Comp is good but I could also see a version with a square crop (which very few people like!).
I just feel that a silhouetted bird against the setting sun has been done many times before.This image is a bit more interesting because of the singing pose.
I do like how you change the white balance and keep forgetting to do it myself when I am in this situation.
I am guessing you were at about -3 to -4 EV!!! Or if I loosely go by the sunny 16 rule 1.you had to be at a minimum of F8 (because you had the 2x extender on) so at an ISO of 200 and F8 your SS would be 1/800 to correctly expose for the midtones on a sunny day.But in this case you want a black silhouette against the bright sun and are shooting into the bright sun (even if hazy) so I would say your aperture was F16 and SS 1/2500 -1/3200.
Please be kind to me if I am totally wrong!!
In real life I would be adjusting SS until I had no blown highlights at F16 to get edges of bird sharp and protect my sensor! Things are happening too fast when in the field and dealing with a rapidly setting sun to think of photography rules!
Gail

[Mike Poole]

Nice to have a different style of shot posted. I like the hint of red above the sun, and having the singing really takes the shot up a couple of notches.

Mike

[Glenn Pure]

Beautifully executed... no nits from me on this one. As for exposure.... well I don't have experience with this type of shot. If I faced this challenge, I'd drop the ISO quite low to below 400 and probably aim for f11 to f16 (any more and diffraction might start to soften the image). At that combination of ISO and aperture, I'm guessing the SS will be in the 1/2000 to 1/5000 range?

[Isaac Grant]

This is really pretty Artie. Perfectly executed and a fantastic way to make a dirt common bird look unique. Congrats.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Gail (and the rest :)). It would have been easy to lose the red streak but I liked it. Good on the EC: -4. Good on the aperture: f/16. The shutter speed was 1/8000 sec. only because the sun was somewhat muted ... Good on the methodology of getting the right exposure. I have done these before so it helps to have a clue in advance :)

I have been dong lots more and have added the 5-stop drop in ND to my kit for nights when the sun is going down perfectly clear ...

with love, artie

[Jim Crosswell]

A beautiful and interesting image Arthur! I like the pose, position of the bird in the sun and composition wise I would try a square version for comparison.

[Arthur Morris]

A beautiful and interesting image Arthur! I like the pose, position of the bird in the sun and composition wise I would try a square version for comparison.

Thanks Jim. I have a new one with an Anhinga on the perch in front of the disc of the sun and I did think of a square for that one :)

with love, artie

ps: I think that a loose SQ would work well here too.